Newsletter - July 2003

AN OUTREACH TO THE DESPISED, THE FORSAKEN AND THE LOST

American, Asian, Australian and European pedophiles flood Cambodia to participate in sexual acts with children that would land them in prison in their own country. Many of these girls are as young as 10 years old.

One mother sold her daughter to pay off a $280 hospital bill after the hospital threatened to confiscate her house if the bill was not paid in full. "I must have been a bad person in my previous life" the little girl said, "to deserve suffering like this."

One-third of Cambodian prostitutes ranges in age from 10 to 17, with virgins selling for as much as $500 each. Epileptic or HIV positive girls go for as little as $30.

But God is never without a witness! In the midst of all this ungodliness, close to the Cambodia/Thailand border where human trafficking is at it’s worst, stands the Cambodian minister, Po Sarith, who has saved many girls from this life of shame.

Po Sarith is a national hero, having served as a military official in the liberation of Cambodia. He is also an uncompromising spiritual hero, having served as interpreter/translator for LaVerne Morse, myself and countless others during our missionary efforts in Southeast Asia.

When I was with Po Sarith last year, he looked exhausted and haggard. He said, "I need your help!"

This Macedonian call came from a man of God feeding and trying to educate 12 girls who were living in a house he had rented for them. Just before I arrived, he redeemed another young girl from the sex traders for $200.

Upon returning stateside I shared his "plea for help" with my board of directors. They advised me return to Cambodia on a fact-finding mission to determine how best we could serve the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of these girls.

Back in Cambodia I spent a week conducting a Christian Leadership Seminar, interviewing these girls and meeting with ministers. I discovered that not all of the girls were there as a result of the sex trade.

Some had come out of Buddhism and, as such, were despised by their family and village. One was a forsaken orphan girl with no where else to go and several were Christian teen-agers who had moved into the house to serve as a witness to those who were spiritually lost.

A vision of my comfortable home and brimming garbage can flashed before my eyes. This was going to require more than "sacrificing" a dollar for missions – it would cost nothing less than having the same compassion for these girls that Christ has for me.

Everyone was in agreement that something more needed to be done. Backed by the prayers of my wife and daughters, my son-in-laws and grandchildren, my friends and supporters and my directors and staff, Po Sarith and I began to lay a strategy.

First, we found an excellent piece of property that would serve as an ideal location for a "Home for Girls." It is a huge section of land where they can grow rice, plant fruit trees and raise cattle and chickens.

Po Sarith has had his eyes on this property for years and was able to secure a verbal agreement with the owner for $20,000 – a fair price according to the area ministers. The building site will be large enough to construct a Conference Center for Missionaries, a Home for Girls, a Medical Clinic and a Technical Training Center to instruct locals and serve as a witnessing tool for Christ.

The home itself will be a 24-room dormitory style building that will accommodate 48 girls. It will also include a chapel, a dining hall, a kitchen, a reception area and a prayer garden.

Land purchase price: $20,000. Estimated construction costs: $28,000 Total package: $48,000 – or $1,000 per girl.

"Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

"The King will answer and say to them, ‘truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me.’" Matthew 25:37 – 40 NASB

In the words of Po Sarith: "I need your help!" With your help this vision can become a reality.

You may donate on-line --- We accept American Express, MasterCard and Visa

All gifts sent are tax-exempt --- No offering is too small. For those donating $1,000 or more (the cost of one girls room), we will name a dormitory room after you, your loved one, or your church.

Click here to see ARM's House of Hope Webpage

You Can't Earn Your Way to Heaven -- 
Nor Can We "Learn" Our Way to Freedom

Ps 119:45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. (NIV)

Have you ever heard someone say, "If we could just keep kids from dropping out of school, we could keep them out of jail...?" On the surface, it seems like good logic. After all, poor education leads to poor employment (or unemployment) which results in poverty. And we all "know" that poverty is the root of our crime problem.

Well, many of us have had our doubts about such logic. I believe our Federal government has just unintentionally confirmed our suspicions: Knowing more without knowing the Lord won't necessarily keep you out of prison.

Consider these statistics from the Bureau of Justice Special Report on "Education and Correctional Populations" for 2003:

• In the 1990’s, 61-78% of inmates in State and Federal prisons had a high school education or more.
• Almost 10% of all Federal prisoners in 1991 had college degrees!
• Some 28% of inmates in Federal prisons in 1991 had some college or a college degree
• Inmates with an 8^th grade education or less comprised about 11-13% of the prison population

In other words, while the inmate population WAS less educated than the non-incarcerated population, our prisons are not "full of high school dropouts." In fact, as many as three-fourths of them finished high school and/or went to college for a time! Could it be the root of our crime problem isn’t lack of education but lack of knowing the Creator? ARM Prison Outreach International sends tens of thousands of Bible study courses into prisons every year because we believe we need regenerated hearts more than we need educated heads.

Don’t misunderstand – reading, writing, and math skills are basic and very important. But smart people can "go bad" –yea, DO go bad -- if they have a dark heart. Judas didn’t fail because of his IQ or his ACT scores. Greed, sin, and betrayal darkened his heart. In fact, his superior math skills may have been the reason he was made "treasurer." Does math aptitude or honesty make the best church treasurer?

We have to fight for this conviction. Here’s evidence of this from the very report used above. The Bureau of Justice Report said, "Forty per cent of violent offenders did not have a GED or high school diploma." That infers they are violent offenders because they aren’t well educated. But let’s state it this way: "60% of violent offenders DO have a GED or high school diploma." In other words, a MAJORITY of our violent offenders have completed a twelfth grade equivalency.

So we see that the secular world disagrees with us; our strategy of rehabilitation through spiritual means is thought naive. As mentioned above, they tell us that it’s the cycle of lack of education, employment, and financial prosperity that fills our jails. No doubt, in some cases they are at least partly correct. But it does not follow that if we could just get everyone through high school and college, jail populations would shrink. I think their own statistics prove our contention that inmates need something more than just a better secular education. We believe true Christianity answers the individual’s problem and society’s crime challenge.

Take a look at Psalm 119:45 again. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. The most famous verses in this "longest chapter" of the Bible include Ps 119:9, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word," and Ps 119:11, "Thy Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee." You can see the parallelism in the above verses. Let’s look briefly at the 45^th verse.

Freedom is not found in AVOIDING God’s precepts, God’s laws, but learning and following them. Thougu the world would disagree, the truth is that God’s guidance LEADS to freedom rather than stealing it. The loss of liberty that inmates have experienced has come from turning their backs on the Creator and His loving commands. To paraphrase our theme verse, "Seek out God’s way, walk in it, and you will find true freedom."

At the end of one of Joe Garman’s 2002 prison seminars, a 75-year-old black man -- who first entered prison on his 18th birthday -- broke down in tears. After he made his good confession of faith he turned to the prison Church and said, "I’ve been running from God for 57 years, and I’m not going to run anymore." As the prisoners gave him a standing ovation, he continued, "Prison treatment programs were not able to soften my hardened heart. Anger management classes could not do it. Fights and threats of punishment had no effect on me. I was a violent person who did not care if I lived or died. I used to laugh at ‘Bible thumpers.’ But today I have received The Gift of Life. I’m not sure how to express my gratitude to God for all He has done for me, but I thank Him sincerely."

So learning is important, but it isn’t the education this world touts as a panacea. The learning that leads to liberty is the digestion and application of the Holy Word of God. Hey, maybe that’s why we sent over 80,000 copies of God’s Word to prisons across America in 2002.

Much anecdotal evidence could be put forward; illustrations abound of those who lacked neither the aptitude nor the schooling. They just succumbed to greed or lust or some other form of sin. Don’t we all realize we’ll never be "smart" enough to quit sinning? Sin is conquered not by intelligence but by the All-Intelligent One. ("All-Intelligent" is synonymous with "omniscient" in that last sentence.)

This truth is crucial to our reason for existence and mode of operation here at ARM Prison Outreach. We don’t send Bibles, Bible courses, baptistries, and DaySpring Christian greeting cards to prisons in huge amounts to "educate" the inmates out of their problems. We send such to touch the core of their beings with the "Master’s Touch." Christ is THE answer to crime.

We are asking you to be our prayer and financial partners to share more and more of His love and truth with the over two million in prisons in America who need exactly what you and I need – more of Christ!

Yours for real freedom,

Rod Farthing
Editor/ARM Regional Development Director